Thank you to everyone who participated in Interact-if's first ever game jam!
The Hanging Heart by Raindev
The hungering tree stands tall on the hill beyond the village.
it is a beautiful but dangerous, almost malicious thing. it rises high, trunk white as snow, leaves a mix of gold and crimson. no one dares to approach it, not anymore - too many lost their minds to its vicious pull, but none can resist casting a quick glance, admiring its vibrancy against the dead sky or even coveting the shimmering heart hanging from its lower branches.
you most of all.
in a world where people wear their glimmering hearts, sources of power and magic, in bracelets and in chains around their necks, you have none. your chest is empty like theirs, but you have no heart to call your our own. you don’t know - or don’t remember - why, which isn’t surprising; the last years are foggy for many, since the war of the angels ended and the world, shattered and hurting, started healing.
for a heartless being like you, nothing is as tempting as the hanging heart on the branches of the hungering tree.
but claiming it as your own might be even more dangerous than you thought. something watches from amidst the tree’s leaves and some villagers might know more than they let on - about you, about the tree, and about the war that ravaged the world.
you might get more than you bargained for.
Mousetrap by Albie tied second place overall
You're one of the many overworked interns working at Whimsey World. When it was announced that Imogen, a category three hurricane, would soon hit Orlando, Florida, your employers asked for volunteers to remain in the parks during the storm, promising triple pay for at least 24 hours. You and your friend seized the opportunity. After all, Whimsey wouldn't ask its cast members to stay behind if it was potentially dangerous.
That's what you assumed before you were knocked unconscious. Before you woke up in a costume chained to your friend and three strangers. Before Dickey the Rat informed you and your "team" that you get $250,000 for each person you kill. Before the neurotoxins pumping through the park's air system began to loosen your grip on reality. Before nightmares and the real world bled into a horrifying, broken fantasy you can't wake up from.
If you survive the storm (and the things lurking within it), you'll win riches beyond your wildest dreams. But how far are you willing to go? How committed are you to pleasing your guests and satisfying your spectators? The Show will go on. It will always go on. But what role will you play in it?
Reclamation by Groggydog tied second place overall
Corporate Space, the Year 21XX.
You awaken from a month of cryosleep to discover that a missing research vessel has suddenly surfaced in the deep. There are no signs of life. You are now tasked with investigating the nature of the ship’s disappearance and the fate of its crew.
Can you do it before time runs out?
In Auctorem Credimus by Franzinyte
Feeling purposeless and unfulfilled after your story has ended, you stumble upon an organization dealing with the same problem as you: the Custodians of Authorial Narrative Foundation (CANon). With nothing else to do but hope for your story's sequel or (hopefully not horrible) movie adaptation to come, the main character of your story (and canonical love interest) invites you to join the foundation and work as a biblio-anthropologist, traveling through various story worlds without the need to stay in-character.
So when your dream finally came true a few years later and people in your neighborhood start forgetting about you, you immediately grab your plot armor and prepare to defeat the villains once again. You've done it before, and you'll make sure they'll never do it again. At least, that's how sequels are supposed to go, right?
But when the main character and the villains turn out to be missing, you decide to take on the mantle of 'main character', join the CANon Timeline Anomaly Removal Department Intervention Squad (TARDIS), and write the sequel to your own story yourself.
Chloe is Home by KhairikaSinani
A flatmate group chat unknowingly welcomes an uninvited guest into their midst.
This was our first big venture into game jam competition and we really appreciate the community's support of us and our authors and their creations.
Check out all our other contestants for the ranked jam here [link]!
And please check out the submissions for our non-ranked jam!
I'm the Echo When you Call by PDRRook
Rougi by LapinLunaire-Games
Better Off by Oscar Arcane
Red Herring RPG by CompanionWolf
